Check out this post — Expense Report: Pre-Trip Costs — for a better understanding of other costs associated with a RTW trip, as well as a definition of my travel style and how it impacts my budget.

Here’s what I spent in U.S. dollars over 3 nights in Dubai:

• Accommodation = $351 … $117 per night
• Food =  $116 … $38.77 per day
• Groceries =  $0
• Coffee =  $16.87 … $5.62 per day
• Activities =  $61.24 … $20.41 per day
• Cell & Wifi =  $20.41 … $6.80 per day
• Transportation =  $74.58 … $24.86 per day
• Miscellaneous =  $13.63 … $4.53 per day

And the grand total for 3 nights in Dubai is…

$654.09 USD, which works out to $218.03 per day.

Here’s how those numbers compare with other countries I’ve traveled to:

• My daily average in Cook Islands: $157.05
• My daily average in New Zealand: $88.56
• My daily average in Australia: $83.37
• My daily average in Singapore: $78.86
• My daily average in Indonesia: $51.34
• My daily average in Malaysia: $117.09
• My daily average in Palau: $160.91
• My daily average in Philippines: $49.21
• My daily average in Japan: $89.55
• My daily average in Nepal: $75.42
• My daily average in Jordan: $68.88
• My daily average in Israel: $70.62
• My daily average in Turkey: $72.42
• My daily average in Egypt: $192.41
• My daily average in Dubai: $218.03

That’s a really high daily average to shell out if you want to see the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa:

A few notes:

• I used xe.com in mid-December to calculate the exchange rate and at that point in time, 1 AED (Emirati Dirham) = .2722 USD.
• I received one discount in exchange for blog coverage: a Big Bus Dubai day-and-night combo tour ($107 USD).
• I did not include my flights into or out of Dubai, as those will be accounted for in a separate post documenting my RTW international airfare budget.
• I purchased a SIM card at the airport in Dubai and paid around $20 USD for a data plan. But in retrospect I didn’t need to get a SIM card here — there was free wifi in the lobby of my hotel, plus the malls offer free wifi (but there’s a catch: you need a Dubai phone number to register, and then they text you a code to login — so that justifies the SIM card a bit). I continue to use the Viber app to communicate for free with my friends and family back home.
• I continue to use my Charles Schwab debit card to avoid international ATM fees.
• Accommodation is SUPER expensive in this city. I intended to stay at the only youth hostel in all of Dubai (it’s out near the airport, very close to the metro with easy city access) for $30 a night for a dorm bed. But their on-line system said they were fully booked for three weeks in December, so I emailed them to double-check their availability. Turns out they DID have beds available, however it took them days to respond to my email and they provided very little info. I have a friend who stayed at this hostel recently and vouched that it’s a fine place to book, but that the staff is unhelpful if you have any questions about Dubai. I think it’s telling that they can’t even respond to email bookings in a timely manner! So I resorted to booking a semi-cheap hotel ($117 USD per night including taxes and fees) — the CityMax Al Barsha, where my good friends Kelley & Irving stayed a few years ago on their Dubai trip. It’s conveniently located within a 5 minute walk of the Mall of Emirates where you can grab Dunkin Donuts for breakfast — or any other affordable meal of your choosing. There is also a Metro stop inside this mall. My single gripe with the hotel is that you can only access wifi in the lobby. It’s $20 USD extra per night if you want wifi in your room, which I think is ridiculous. Plus people smoke in the lobby so each night I’d return to my room smelling like an ashtray. Is a smoke-free wifi area too much to ask? Regardless, this hotel earns high marks for its location.
• My food budget in Dubai works out to $116 for 3 days… compare that with $218 spent on food in Turkey over 17 days! Yikes. You’ll notice that my groceries budget is ZERO which means I ate out for every meal. And I spent over $6 per day on coffee…
• The only item under Activities is a day pass to the water park at Atlantis Resort — I think it’s normally around $70 but I found an on-line discount code so it cost me $61.
• I did not buy any souvenirs in Dubai.
• A few items under the miscellaneous slice of the pie include… a day-use locker at Atlantis Aquaventure ($10 USD), one postcard & stamp ($1.25)
• At times I question if I wasted my money by visiting Dubai for only three days. Remember when I wrote in my Egypt Expense Report that to save money you have to travel slowly? Well my trip to Dubai was too quick to see the city properly, so I’d like to go back again someday (plus I still have to get to the top of the Burj Khalifa!). Would it have been smarter to skip Dubai entirely and instead see it more in-depth another time? Maybe. I used my RTW trip as an excuse to justify the splurge, under the stipulation that this was a once-in-a-lifetime tour so I was allowed to spend an extra $650 to see a new country. Since I was already nearby, it was cheaper for me to visit Dubai compared to traveling all the way from the States. Ultimately I am glad I went, but the added cost weighed heavy on me for awhile.

Dubai is an expensive city, but don’t let that deter you from visiting — maybe tack on a few days here en route to another location? My friends Kelley & Irving spent six days in Dubai prior to a big trip to Egypt a few years ago. It’s practically a free layover if you plan your flights carefully.